macfisto
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Hello,
I've been doing quite a bit of reading in this forum the past couple of days about lighting. I currently have two 15-watt GE plant & aquarium bulbs over my 55g, and after about 8 months I believe, due to some yellowing of my plants that has occurred over the past couple weeks or so, that they are starting to go south. I believe my plants (crypts, anubias, jungle val, dwarf sag, swords) have done pretty well in my low-light situation up to this point, but I am certainly not against trying to find ways for them to do better. I have starting dosing excel over the past week in an attempt to get rid of and control some black beard algae that has developed. After reading through the forums, the consesus seems to be that a NO bulb with a color temp of between 5000-10,000K is best, along with as high of a CRI as possible. I just went to HD and purchased two Philips "Natural Sunshine" bulbs, that have a 5000K and 92 CRI. From what I have read, this should be pretty good. While there, I noticed that Philips' "Plant & Aquarium" bulb has only 2700K and there was no CRI listed. What's the deal with this? From what I've read, 2700K wouldn't be very good at all for growing plants. The GE bulbs that I have on my tank now did not have any K value listed on the box, but I would assume that it's probably about the same as the Philips bulb. So which bulb should I use?? Is it that GE and Philips don't really know what's best for growing plants?? Any response would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
I've been doing quite a bit of reading in this forum the past couple of days about lighting. I currently have two 15-watt GE plant & aquarium bulbs over my 55g, and after about 8 months I believe, due to some yellowing of my plants that has occurred over the past couple weeks or so, that they are starting to go south. I believe my plants (crypts, anubias, jungle val, dwarf sag, swords) have done pretty well in my low-light situation up to this point, but I am certainly not against trying to find ways for them to do better. I have starting dosing excel over the past week in an attempt to get rid of and control some black beard algae that has developed. After reading through the forums, the consesus seems to be that a NO bulb with a color temp of between 5000-10,000K is best, along with as high of a CRI as possible. I just went to HD and purchased two Philips "Natural Sunshine" bulbs, that have a 5000K and 92 CRI. From what I have read, this should be pretty good. While there, I noticed that Philips' "Plant & Aquarium" bulb has only 2700K and there was no CRI listed. What's the deal with this? From what I've read, 2700K wouldn't be very good at all for growing plants. The GE bulbs that I have on my tank now did not have any K value listed on the box, but I would assume that it's probably about the same as the Philips bulb. So which bulb should I use?? Is it that GE and Philips don't really know what's best for growing plants?? Any response would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
